Game apparatus



Feb. 6, 1945. A STEWART 2,368,896

GAME APPARATUS Filed March 20 1943 F/al- FIG. 2 F76. 3

Ha 4 F7G.-5

zo-cz INVENTOR BY 6502a: A. STEWART ewwlr A TTORNEY Patented Feb. 6,1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE aromas GAME APPARATUS George A.Stewart, Bloomfield, N. 1. Application March so, 1943, Serial No.419,841 2 Claims. (01. 273-130) The present invention relates to a gameadapted to be played by two or more persons, and more particularly to agame of the type comprising a game-board, or the like, and a pluralityof play ingpieces An object of the presentinvention is to provide a gamewhich affords amusement to the players. I

The playing areas I I may have applied thereto, in a suitable manner, adifferent symbol, nu-

meral, name, legend, or the like, or, may be identifled by a differentcolor. I

In the illustrative embodiment, the four play ing areas I I are arrangedon the game-board to Another object is to provide a novel game whichrequires skill and ingenuity.

Another object is to provide. a game having simple rules which areeasily mastered by adults and by children as well. V

Another object is to provide a game which is simple and inexpensive tomanufacture.

A further object consists in the combination 1 and arrangement ofelements comprising thev game, whereby the foregoing objects areaccomplished.

Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon anunderstanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, orwill be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantagesnotreferred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art uponemployment of the invention in practice.

A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes ofillustration and description and is shown in the accompanying.

drawing, forming a part of the specification, wherein:

Figure 1 is a'plan view of a game-board, illustrating an embodiment ofthe invention.

Figure 2 is a plan view of a pair of playing pieces used in connectionwith the game-board, the pieces being shown face up.

Figure 3 is a plan view of a playing piece shown face down.

Figures 4, 5, 6 and 7 are diagrammatic views,

illustrating various situations which may occur in the course of playingthe game.

Referring to the drawing, and more particularly Figure 1 thereof, thereis shown a gameboard It provided with a plurality of playing areas ll,four being shown for example, although it will be understood that two,three, five, or more areas could be provided. The areas ll, preferably,are rectangular in shape and are each subdivided into spaces I2 arrangedin horizontal and vertical rows. For example, as shown, the areas ll maybe subdivided into a suitable number of square spaces l2 defined bymarked vertical and horizontal lines. Sixteen of such square spaces areshown by wayofillustration. I

, the area to which they belong. Each group of a and "X, otherdistinguishable marksor indicia provide a space at the center of theboard for a. circular area I4 divided into sectors l5, each of whichfaces one of the areas II. The sectors It may be provided with thesymbol, name, legend or colorcorresponding to that of the area II whichthey face. The circular area It and the sectors 15 provide means forkeeping score dur- 5 ing the play of the game as will be described ingreater detail hereinafter.

Referring to Figures 2 and 3, there are shown suitable playing piecessuch as circular discs 20, or the like. For each playing area havingsixteen spaces, a group of sixteen pieces are pro vided, and each groupis provided with a symbol, name, legend or color corresponding to thatof sixteen pieces may comprise sub-groups of eight pieces, each havingan 0 on its face and eight pieces, each having an fX on its face. sired,instead of providing the discs withf'O" may be provided thereon.

In Figure 3, a disc 20 is shown,- face down. The reverse sides, that isthe sides opposite the faces, of all the discs preferably arealike,except for their group identification means, so that one is unable todistinguish between- O- and X" discs while they are face down.

The discs 20 are of a size which enables them to be readily placed inthe square spaces H of the playing areas, as about to bedescribed,

In playing the game, each player isalloted a playing area II which isplaced in front of him so that the pay-off sector l5 of his playingareafaces him. Each player receives a group of sixteen discs having thesymbol, ,n'ame. legend, or

color corresponding to. that of his playing area. The groups of discsare placed in front of the players, or to the side of their play ngareas, face down, and are shuliled or mixed so that the players do notknow which discs are marked X and which are marked f0."

Any suitable method of determining which player plays first maybeutilized. 'Play then commences.

The object of the game is to form continuousing either the mark X or themark "0" thereon, I

in the playing area of an opponent, for example as shown in Figure 4; orto form such lines of four discs, as shown in Figure 5; or to formsquares of four discs, as shown in Figure 6; or to form combinationscomprising squares of four discs and lines of three discs, as shown inFigure '7. In forming the lines or squares, any number of opponents maycombine, or gang-up" on the remaining opponent or opponents, but theplayer completing a line of three or four similarly marked discs orsquares of such discs receives credit therefor and is given a number ofpoints as will be described in connection with the scoring of points.

The first player picks up, at random, a disc from his group and inspectsthe face of it to see whether it is marked X or 0. He then places thedisc, face up, in any space I! of any of the playing areas II, butpreferably in a space l2 of the playing areas II of his opponents forreasons which will become apparent hereinafter. The second, third andfourth players proceed likewise in clockwise rotation by placing a discin any desired space I2 of any desired playing area.

After the completion of the first round of play, that is after eachplayer has played once it again is the first players turn to play. Heagain picks up a disc at random, inspects it, and places it in a spacel2 of one of the playing areas ll. However, at this point of the gam hemay have the opportunity of completing a scoring combination in anopponent's playing area. The second, third and fourth players, playagain in turn and play continues in this manner until each player hasplaced all his discs in a space I! of the playing area ll, unless thegame may be terminated sooner because no further scoring possibilitiesexist.

' Each player also has the privilege of placing a disc in a space l2 ofhis playing area II to prevent being scored upon by the other players.example, if his opponents have a line of two discs marked 0 in hisplaying area, and he draws a disc marked X," he may place his disc inthe line to prevent a line of three discs marked 0 from being formed.Similarly, the player may If, as shown in Figure 5, the disc a is thelast to be placed on the playing area, three lines of four discs and asquare of four discs (at the lower left hand corner of the playing area)would be completed. The player is awarded fifteen points for the threelines of four discs and an additional three points for the square offour discs, making a total of eighteen points.

For

A player completing a square of nine discs, as

shown in Figure 7, is awarded points for a combination of scoring plays.For example, if the center disc 20b is the last to be placed on theplaying area, four lines of three discs and four squares of four discs(contained in the square of of four discs are completed, totalling sixpoints.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that any number ofscoring combinations may be simultaneously completed. For example, oneor more lines of three discs, one or more lines of four discs, and oneor more squares of four discs may be completed by the playof a singledisc. Thus, the players must be on the alert to get the largest scoringaward by the play of a single disc or to prevent the largest scorepossible by playing a single disc, defensively,

The scoring or awarding of points may be effected in any suitablemanner, for example, on a score pad or the like, but preferably wherethe game-board illustrated herein is utilized, the player scoring isawarded his points by having the player scored upon place in the scoringplayers pay-off sector, a number of playing chips or tokens commensurateto the number of points scored. The winner of a game is the player whohas the most points after the points scored against him have beendeducted.

In a modified form of the game, the gameboard Ill may be dispensed withand in its place any suitable number of detached cards having a playingarea II and spaces l2 may be provided.

For example, such cards are represented by the playing areas illustratedin Figures 4 to '7. The advantage of using these detached cards is thatany given number of persons from two to the number of cards provided canplay the game. The players can place their cards conveniently in frontof them. Should less persons play the game than the number of cardsprovided, the cards not in use are not displayed and hence will notconfuse the players.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the presentinvention provides a new, interesting and amusing game, which has simplerules and provides action on nearly every play. The game, due to itssimplicity, can be played by children as well as by adults. The manyvariations and combinations of scoring opportunity add to the interestand enjoyment of the game, enabling persons to amuse themselves forhours at a time. The parts of the game are rugged in construction andcan readily withstand any abuse to which they may be subjected.

As various changes may be made in the form,

7 construction and arrangement of the parts herein,

. in any limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended tocover all the generic and specific features of the invention hereindescribed, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as amatter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

I claim:

1. A game of the class described comprising, in combination, a pluralityof differently identified, substantially rectangular playing areas eachsubdivided into a group of substantially identical game piece receivingspaces and with the spaces of each area arranged in at least fourhorizontal rows and an equal number of vertical rows in squarewiserelation; and a plurality of groups of game pieces, each group beingdifferently identified with respect to each other and solely with one ofsaid playing areas, the number of groups corresponding to the number ofsaid playing areas and the number of pieces in each groupcorrespondingto the number of spaces in one of said playing areas, half of saidpieces of each group all being provided with the same mark on one sidethereof and the other half of said pieces of each group all beingprovided on one side with the same mark but difierent than said firstmark, said pieces, when positioned with said marks thereon facingdownwardly, being indistinguishable insofar as said marks are concernedbut being distinguishable as to group identification, whereby 10 anyaligned and adjacent spaces of said areas are adapted to coact with saidgame pieces of any group having the same mark thereon to establish a.game value.

2. A game of the class described comprising, in 15 combination, fourdiflferently identified, substantially rectangular playing areas eachsubdivided into a group of identical game piece receiving spaces andwith the spaces in each area arranged in four horizontal rows and fourvertical rows; and four groups of sixteen game pieces in the form ofdiscs, each group being difierently identified with respect to eachother and solely with one of said playing areas, eight of said pieces ineach group having an X on one side thereof and eight of said pieces ineach group having an O on one side thereof, the other side of saidpieces of each of said groups being identical except for groupidentification. s

GEORGE A. STEWART.

